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Deuteronomy 26:1-11
New English Translation

Presentation of the Firstfruits

26 When[a] you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you occupy it and live in it, 2 you must take the first of all the ground’s produce you harvest from the land the Lord your God is giving you, place it in a basket, and go to the place where he[b] chooses to locate his name.[c] 3 You must go to the priest in office at that time and say to him, “I declare today to the Lord your[d] God that I have come into the land that the Lord[e] promised[f] to our ancestors[g] to give us.” 4 The priest will then take the basket from you[h] and set it before the altar of the Lord your God. 5 Then you must affirm before the Lord your God, “A wandering[i] Aramean[j] was my ancestor,[k] and he went down to Egypt and lived there as a foreigner with a household few in number,[l] but there he became a great, powerful, and numerous people. 6 But the Egyptians mistreated and oppressed us, forcing us to do burdensome labor. 7 So we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and he[m] heard us and saw our humiliation, toil, and oppression. 8 Therefore the Lord brought us out of Egypt with tremendous strength and power,[n] as well as with great awe-inspiring signs and wonders. 9 Then he brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 So now, look! I have brought the first of the ground’s produce that you, Lord, have given me.” Then you must set it down before the Lord your God and worship before him.[o] 11 You will celebrate all the good things that the Lord your God has given you and your family,[p] along with the Levites and the resident foreigners among you.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 26:1 tn Heb “and it will come to pass that.”
  2. Deuteronomy 26:2 tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
  3. Deuteronomy 26:2 sn The place where he chooses to locate his name. This is a circumlocution for the central sanctuary, first the tabernacle and later the Jerusalem temple. See Deut 12:1-14 and especially the note on the word “you” in v. 14.
  4. Deuteronomy 26:3 tc For the MT reading “your God,” certain LXX mss have “my God,” a contextually superior rendition followed by some English versions (e.g., NAB, NASB, TEV). Perhaps the text reflects dittography of the kaf (כ) at the end of the word with the following preposition כִּי (ki).
  5. Deuteronomy 26:3 tc The Syriac adds “your God” to complete the usual formula.
  6. Deuteronomy 26:3 tn Heb “swore on oath.”
  7. Deuteronomy 26:3 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 7, 15).
  8. Deuteronomy 26:4 tn Heb “your hand.”
  9. Deuteronomy 26:5 tn Though the Hebrew term אָבַד (ʾavad) generally means “to perish” or the like (HALOT 2-3 s.v.; BDB 1-2 s.v.; cf. KJV “a Syrian ready to perish”), a meaning “to go astray” or “to be lost” is also attested. The ambivalence in the Hebrew text is reflected in the versions where LXX Vaticanus reads ἀπέβαλεν (apebalen, “lose”) for a possibly metathesized reading found in Alexandrinus, Ambrosianus, ἀπέλαβεν (apelaben, “receive”); others attest κατέλειπεν (kateleipen, “leave, abandon”). “Wandering” seems to suit best the contrast with the sedentary life Israel would enjoy in Canaan (v. 9) and is the meaning followed by many English versions.
  10. Deuteronomy 26:5 sn A wandering Aramean. This is a reference to Jacob whose mother Rebekah was an Aramean (Gen 24:10; 25:20, 26) and who himself lived in Aram for at least twenty years (Gen 31:41-42).
  11. Deuteronomy 26:5 tn Heb “father.”
  12. Deuteronomy 26:5 tn Heb “sojourned there few in number.” The words “with a household” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarity.
  13. Deuteronomy 26:7 tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 26:2.
  14. Deuteronomy 26:8 tn Heb “by a powerful hand and an extended arm.” These are anthropomorphisms designed to convey God’s tremendously great power in rescuing Israel from their Egyptian bondage. They are preserved literally in many English versions (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).
  15. Deuteronomy 26:10 tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 26:2.
  16. Deuteronomy 26:11 tn Or “household” (so NASB, NIV, NLT); Heb “house” (so KJV, NRSV).
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Deuteronomy 26:1-11
International Standard Version

Gift of the First Produce

26 “When you arrive in the land that the Lord your God is about to give you as an inheritance, take possession of it and settle in it. 2 Gather all the first produce of the ground that you harvest from your land that the Lord your God is about to give you, place it in a basket, and bring it to the place where the Lord your God will choose to establish his name. 3 Approach the priest who is in charge at that time and say to him, ‘I acknowledge today to the Lord your[a] God that I’ve arrived in the land that the Lord promised our ancestors to give us.’ 4 Then the priest will take the basket from you[b] and place it in front of the altar of the Lord your God. 5 Then you are to affirm and declare in the presence of the Lord your God:

‘A wandering Aramean was my ancestor, who went down to Egypt and traveled there with very few family members,[c] yet there he became a great, powerful, and populous nation. 6 But the Egyptians oppressed us, afflicted us, and assigned us to hard labor. 7 So we cried out to the Lord God of our ancestors, and he[d] heard our cries and observed our affliction, trouble, and oppression. 8 The Lord brought us out of Egypt with his awesome power,[e] with great terror, signs, and wonders. 9 And then we arrived at this place, and he gave this land to us, flowing with milk and honey. 10 Now, look—I brought the first produce of the land that you, Lord, have given me.’

Then set it in the presence of the Lord your God and worship him.[f] 11 Rejoice with the descendants of Levi and the foreigner among you at all the good things that the Lord your God has given you and your family.”

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 26:3 So MT; LXX reads my
  2. Deuteronomy 26:4 Lit. your hand
  3. Deuteronomy 26:5 The Heb. lacks family members
  4. Deuteronomy 26:7 Lit. the Lord
  5. Deuteronomy 26:8 Lit. his mighty hand and outstretched arm
  6. Deuteronomy 26:10 Lit. worship before the Lord your God
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Deuteronomy 25
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